


Wakening

by Isabear



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Awesome Freya, Community: summerpornathon, Happy Ending, Modern Era, Other, Outdoor Sex, Reincarnation, Team Gluttony, Threesome, Transformation, Water Spirit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-05
Updated: 2011-08-05
Packaged: 2017-11-07 10:21:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/429972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Isabear/pseuds/Isabear
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>She sleeps for centuries, sometimes only waking once a decade to peer out above the water, then slipping back under in silence.</i>
</p><p> </p><p>A different sort of "waking Merlin" story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wakening

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Summer Pornathon 2011 week 7 challenge, "Sleep".

She sleeps for centuries, sometimes only waking once a decade to peer out above the water, then slipping back under in silence. The flowers that dance around her lake's edge wax and wane, year after year, but the colors remain the same. The sky tumbles overhead, blue and gray and white, then dark. The surface of the water ripples and goes still.

Rarely does anyone come to visit her. She's usually asleep when they do. 

The boat is made of metal, and she's so deeply under she doesn't feel anything until it's nearly reached the center of the lake. When she does finally stir from sleep, she the weight of it already presses down like destiny.

Curious, she rises to the surface.

The face that peers down at her is blond, young, and ever so faintly familiar. She expected someone else and feels surprised that she can feel surprise.

"I didn't think you were real," he says. His voice is distorted by water, but she understands well enough.

"I didn't think you were," she replies, then reaches through the surface to touch two fingers to his nose. Yes, he's solid. Real. Awake. "Arthur."

He blinks, startled, and catches her wrist. "I need your help to wake the others. They're scattered everywhere, I can feel it. But I can't free them."

His fingers are warm against her skin. She shivers, for the first time in centuries feeling the water around her as cold.

"Yes," she says simply. He pulls her free.

She shivers in the boat on the way to the shore, and shudders bodily on the first step from prow to solid ground. Her bare feet ache under the weight of her body after centuries of being nearly incorporeal. He looks at her sideways, worried.

"It will pass," she lies. He nods.

~~~~~~

They search the length and breadth of Old Albion. Freya feels knives in her feet every step she takes out of water. Arthur shows her the wonders of indoor plumbing and long baths.

They finally discover Merlin on the edge of a pasture in the Lake District. Nearby, tourists wander through a ring of ancient stones, snapping photos. Sheep graze unperturbed around the roots.

"Naturally," Arthur mutters, then orders the tree to transform. Nothing happens. Frustrated, Arthur kicks it, then hops about swearing while Freya lays her hands on Merlin's rough bark and presses her lips there.

Arthur leaves off hopping and stares.

"Like the sleeping princess," Freya explains.

Arthur looks at her, then at the tree. He bursts out laughing. After a moment Freya joins him, imagining Merlin in silk and gold, waiting for a kiss.

The return to their cramped room in the B&B to wait. Arthur sits in the chair and watches her with an unreadable expression as she slips into sleep.

~~~~~~

Arthur's Vespa purrs softly up the hill after dark, Freya clinging behind. They flick on their torches, and Arthur piggy-backs her from the road.

In the moonlight, Merlin looks fey, his branches wild and tangled. Freya tries kissing him again, then Arthur does, hesitant and blushing. Leaves tremble softly without wind. Freya feels her heart leap.

"It's working," Arthur whispers, wonder in his voice.

They kiss the bark again, and somehow Freya's lips brush Arthur's jaw in the dark. He makes a startled noise, then they're kissing each other, wet and open. The tree shudders violently; Freya follows suit.

Arthur's hand cradles the back of her head as they tumble to the grass. A tree root moulds itself to her back, inviting. As Arthur's warm palms ease her dress up over her hips, green leaves shake loose and flutter around them. She wraps her arms and legs about Arthur and pulls him in, the warm weight of him pressing her down.

The tree twists as Arthur breeches her. She gasps, head thrown back. It's been so long. Arthur's shadowed face moves above her, eyes half closed in pleasure. His thrusts are firm and hot, opening and filling her each time. She cries out, clutching his shoulders.

Arthur comes suddenly, body tensing and pressing to hers. Above them, the tree gives one final, terrible shake and falls. But it's a tree no longer. Merlin lands, naked and pliant, across their sweating bodies.

"Started wi'out me," he slurs.

"You were too slow," Arthur replies, but he tugs Merlin closer.

Freya smiles, kisses Merlin's ear, and wraps her arms around them both. Tomorrow they will seek out the others. Tomorrow.


End file.
